The present invention relates generally to a method of manufacturing baseballs and softballs and more particularly to a method of manufacturing balls employing a heat activated glue to bond the cover of the ball to the core. In this application, the process will be described in conjunction with the manufacture of baseballs, but it is understood that the process is equally applicable to the process of manufacturing softballs and other game balls which involves the application of a cover to a core with a glue to bond the cover to the core and the stitching of seams connecting multi-piece covers in a pre-determined pattern.
The use of adhesives in the manufacture of sporting goods is well established. For example, in the sports footwear industry, a long standing manufacturing process involves the utilization of various adhesives to improve the durability of the sewn product. In the fabrication of such footwear, the parts that are adhered will receive uniform amounts of adhesive and are thereafter pressed together to form the bond. The newly bonded components begin to cure, but the individual parts that receive the adhesive are not handled again in such a manner as to impair the integrity of the adhesive bond. By comparison, the steps employed in manufacturing baseballs are more cumbersome.
Using current methodology, a baseball receives an application of adhesive to both the core and the cover material. This step is similar to the comparable step in the manufacture of footwear. The deviation from the footwear process occurs in the baseball manufacturing process as a result of the operator having to continually renegotiate the bonding of the cover and the core as he/she manipulates them during the sewing step. Thus, strong adhesives are not expedient since they prohibit down stream processing in the manufacture of the baseball. Specifically, if the cover is adhered to the core by a strong adhesive, the cover cannot be manipulated by the person stitching the seams to join the pieces of the cover. These considerations have resulted in mild adhesives becoming established as the standard glue from a manufacturing perspective. These mild adhesives allow the sewing step to be performed at a reasonable speed because the operator can manipulate the cover during the sewing process. On the other hand, manipulation of the cover during the sewing process will affect the integrity of the adhesive bond, sacrificing baseball quality and performance.
Attempts to overcome these problems in the industry have included a process commonly used in the industry today involving the application of a dry film adhesive on the core of the baseball; however, this process requires an application of adhesive to the cover and the cover adhesive activates the core adhesive which begins to cure once the cover is applied to the ball and during the course of the operator performing the sewing process. While this process is an improvement over earlier processes which simply use a mild adhesive, the process still has drawbacks: the bonding integrity is impaired during the sewing step and there is the necessity of applying a coat of adhesive to the cover which is time consuming and expensive to perform.
What is needed then is a method of manufacturing baseballs which is more efficient, which produces a better quality product and which does not increase the expense as compared to presently available manufacturing methods.
Heat activated glues have been available in the marketplace for several years. However, until recently heat activated glues were solvent based, and therefore very flammable. For that reason, the use of heat activated glues in the manufacture of baseballs was a hazardous undertaking, particularly since a substantial volume of the manufacture of baseballs today occurs in third world countries where this hazard is greatly exacerbated. Further, the employment of a heat activated gluing process has been dismissed as being innately, and prohibitly, expensive. Heat activated adhesives are four times more costly than those commonly used in the industry today.
Applicants, by innovating a highly efficient method of application, and through the use of the most ubiquitous water based latex based adhesives, have been able to control costs so that the actual cost of manufacturing baseballs using Applicants' new process is comparable to the cost of the less desirable processes heretofore employed in the industry.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved method of manufacturing baseballs.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved method of manufacturing baseballs which facilitates the use of heat activated glue to bond the cover to the core of a baseball.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide an improved method of manufacturing baseballs using a heat activated gluing process with improved safety.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide an improved method of manufacturing baseballs through which a higher quality and more efficient baseball can be produced using a heat activated gluing process at an expense substantially equal to or less than the expense associated with prior art methods.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a method of manufacturing baseballs which glues the cover to the core using a heat activated gluing process which eliminates the steps of having to both the core and the coat.
A process which meets these objectives is presently unavailable in the industry as established by the state of the prior art.